London Designer Outlet secures retail anchor brands

London Designer Outlet (LDO), currently under construction at Wembley City, has announced that it has secured Gap and Nike as its first anchor tenants. Sportswear brand Nike has taken a 9,182 sq ft in a prominent location on the ground floor

of the Outlet facing Wembley Stadium, while global fashion brand GAP has signed up for an 8,235 sq ft unit on the centre’s first floor.

In addition, Quintain Estates and Development, the property investment and development company, has also secured deals with Marks & Spencer, Superdry and Guess who will all take units at the site.

Marks & Spencer has taken the biggest share of the 350,000 sq ft area in the North West London outlet with a 21,108 sq ft unit, followed by Guess with 3,636 sq ft of space and Superdry with a 3,676 sq ft unit.

Phil Cottingham, Head of Retail at Quintain, commented: “LDO has been designed as a leisure and lifestyle destination that will serve the local catchment as well as ‘day-trippers’ and tourists visiting London, which will be reflected in the tenant mix.

“The initial phase of the leasing programme focused on establishing a strong food and beverage offer at LDO, followed by securing the cornerstone retail brands. We are delighted to have secured Marks & Spencer, one of the UK’s leading retailers, alongside Nike and Gap, as well as established fashion brands Superdry and Guess.”

George van Vugt, Director Real Estate and store Construction at Nike EMEA said: “Offering proximity to and association with one of the UK’s most important sporting landmarks and a designer fashion retail focus, London Designer Outlet is a perfect fit for the Nike brand. We are extremely pleased to have signed up on such a prominent anchor unit in this world-class retail, leisure and lifestyle destination.”

The complex which is London’s first bespoke designer outlet and the only one within the M25, opens in 2013, and will comprise of up 85 designer retail units, 15 restaurants, cafés and coffee shops as well as a nine-screen Cineworld.

The London Designer Outlet’s catchment statistics are impressive, it claims that it will be the closest outlet centre for 5.8m people – the highest of any in the UK, and that an estimated 10.4m people live within a 60-minute travel time, and there is a total of £3.4bn projected catchment spend. Visitor numbers to Wembley City are currently estimated at 9m a year and these could reach up to 12m once the centre is open.

Image:  London Designer Outlet computer generated visual